Ignition system for internal-combustion engines.



J. TEN E. HILLHOUSE. IGNITION SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES;

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3. 191 I.

Patented June 12, 1917.

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lG-NITION SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3, IBII.

Patented June 12, 1917.

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%Lfmmwo I I JOHN TEN EYCK HILLHOUSE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IGNITION SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Application filed June 3, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN TEN EYcK Hnmnonsn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, United States of America, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ignition Systems for Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention rclates to improvements in ignition systems for internal combustion engines, and its object is to provide a simple arrangement to be used in conjunction with high tension or jump spark systems of ignition which shall have advantages over such devices as havehitherto been in use.

I will describe my invention in the following specification and point out the novel features thereof in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of a preferred form ofdistributer which I have invented. Fig. 2 is another sectional.elevation of a portion of the device which is shown in Fig. 1, this section being taken at right-angles lo the section shown in the latter figure. In Fig. 3 a sectional plan view of this device is shown, the section in this figure being taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the rotary contact device shown in Fig. 1, taken in the direction indicated by the arrows 6 (i.

Fig; 5 is a plan view of a modified form of a part of such a structure as is shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a sectional side elevation of another modification of my invention and Fig. 7 is a plan view of a part of the device shown in Fig. 6.

Like characters of reference designate correspcmding parts in all of the figures.

The construction of distributer which is shown in Figs. 1, and 3, is a preferred form. In this case a stationary circular housing 50 is shown surroumling the. shaft 14. .This housing carries a bowl-shaped body of insulation 51, in which are embedded stationary contacts 52, 53, 54 and 55 whicli'are connected in the usual way, with the wires leading to the spark coil. These contacts are also connected, rcspectimly, With metallic strips 50, 57, 58 and 59 which are embedded in the insulation 51 and are Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 12, 1 91 7. Serial No. 631,117.

separated from one another. The upper sur faces of these strips are in a common horizontal plane slightly above the upper surface of the insulation 51.

(30 is a movable circular housing above the stationary housing 50. The shaft l-l projects through this housing and its lower edge fits over a shoulder which is turned in the upper edge of housing 50 to receive it. A body of insulation (31 is carried to this upper housing, and in it are embedded four contacts corresponding with the contacts in the lower stationary housing. Three of these contacts are shown and are designated by (52, (i3 and (34. The other one which is not shown in the drawings is above the contact These contacts are connected with metallic strips such as 66, (i7 and (S8, corresponding in number and in position with the strips 56, 57, 58 and 5! On top of the movable housing (50 is a spring 70 which is compressed by a nut 71 on the upper end of the shaft 14, which is threaded to take it. This forces the four strips in the upper housing against the four strips in the lower housing so that they are in electrical contact with one another. These contacts are arrangml to slide over each other rotatably. The contacts 5'2 and 62 are connected together as are also contacts 53 and 63, 5+ and (i4, 55 and the contact above it (not shown). 72 is an arm or lever projecting from the housing by means of which it may be rotated relative to the fixed housing 50.

livoted in the shaft H at 73 is an arm 7-1- which rotatably carries a round shank 75. on the lower end of which is a head 76. This head carries a pivot 77 for a pair of contact rollers 78, 78. This pivot is trans verse to the axis of the shank 75 but is offset therefrom as may be seen in Fig. i. If desired, a spring 75 may be interposed hes tween the end of the arm H and the head 76.

The operation of this device is as follows; When the engine to which this device is attached is at rest, the arm 74 and the parts which it carries will drop down of their own weight into the positions in which they are shown in Fig. 1. \Vhen the engine rotates slowly, as it will by being started by hand, the contact rollers will be moved around with the shaft 14 and will run in a plane substantially at right-angles to the axis of the shaft. -In doing this they will pass successively over the lower set of contacts. But these are tixed in such relation to the shaft 1 1 and in relation to the travel of the pistons of the engine, that no backfiring can occur in the engine cylinders when the contact rollers complete circuits by passing over these lower contacts.

As soon as the engine runs it will rotate the shaft 14 at a considerable rate of speed, and the contact rollers with their supporting mechanism will be raised by centri't'ugal force. The rollers are so spaced that the outside or upper one will run onto the upper contacts before the other one l aves the lower contacts so that the sparking operation will not be interrupted. But as soon as the engine attains a normal speed, the contact rollers will touch only the upper set of contacts. These are mounted in the movable housing (50 so that they may be moved. together by m mns of the lever 72 to advance or retard the spark in the usual manner.

The same centrifngally actuated rotary contact device may be used inside oi the stationary housing St) which is shown in Fig. 5. This contains a cup-like body of insulation 81, into which are set 't'our l'iXed contacts 82, 83, Si and 85. The inner and lower ends of these contacts are so spaced that as the contact rollers 7s pass over them, they will cause sparks to be produced in the engine cylinders at such intervals as to tire the charges therein after the pistons have reached or passed the upper limits of their paths of travel. But these contacts are curved out of axial alinement in a direction opposite to the direction of travel oi the rollers, which direction is indicated in this figure by the arrow 80. so that as these rollers are raised by centrifugal force they come into contact with these stationary contacts at earlier parts of their paths of travel. And the higher they are raised the earlier will these electrical connections be made. Thus, the spark will be advanced automatically as the. engine accelerates. An engine equipped with this device need have no manual adjustment for the spark. Obviously, a. manual adjustment may be. added it thought desirable. But without a manual spark ad justment the engines speed may be controlled entircly by the usual throttle control.

It is to be noted that the contacts such as 54 and ($4 in Fig, l are electrically connected together and that the rollers 78 are so spaced that they will always strike against one or the other of them during each revolution ot' the shaft so that they, in effect, form a continuous contact, one part of which may be advanced ahead of the other part. In ll i 5, on the other. hand, the contact 8; may be considered to comprise a lower part;

and an upper part electrically connected together because integral, with the upper part advanced ahead of the lower part.

The structure shown in Figs. (3 and T is a combination of lower and upper contacts electrically connected together. These are set in a housing 90, the inner cup-shaped portion of which is a body of insulating material 91. The lower contacts are designated by 92, Eli), ill, and 95. and these are so shaped and related to the other part of the apparatus that when rollers TS pass over them, they will cause the ignition sparks to occur in the engine cylinders at or after the times the pistons therein have reached the uppermost points in their paths ol travel.

Then as the engine accelerates and the rate of rotation of the shaft ll consequently becomes greater, the arm 74 which supports the rollers will swing about its path until the path of the rollers will bring them onto the upper contacts 92", 93, 9+. and 95. which are set oblique to radial planes. like those shown in Fig. 5. These are electrically connected with the contacts immediately below them and the rollers 98 will strike them before they run otl' from the lower contacts. ll it is desired to have the positions of the upper contacts manually adjustable relative to those of the lower contacts, the housing 90 may be divided at the lilies by some such arrangement as that shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. (3 also shows the spring adjustment tor regulating the ell'ect of centrifugal force on th arm Tl. This device may. of course, be applied, it desired, to the structure shown in Fig. 1.

SH? is a collar allixed to the shaft 14-, and 7 is a short lever projecting from the arm Tl. lletween these is a spring 98. the conipression of which may be varied by means of a nut W.

'hen I speak oi "sets" of contacts over which the rotary contact arm passes, I mean, of course, a number of contacts corresponding with the number of cylinders of the engine to which the device is to be applied which may be one. two, three, four or more.

\Vhat I claim is.

1. In an ignition system, a distributer having two sets of contacts, one of said sets being fixed and the other adjustable relative to said fixed set, and means for rendering oneor the other of said sets operative.

2.111 an ignition system, a distributer having't'wo sets of contacts, one of said sets being fixed and the other adjustable relative to said fixed set, said sets of contacts being connected together in parallel. and

anton'iatic means for rendering one or the other of said sets operative.

3. In an ignition system, a distributor the arm will engage it in having a rotary contact arm, a pivoted connection therefor whereby said arm has a movement transverse to its rotary movement, and a contact over which said arm travels, said contact being so arranged that different angular positions as it moves about its pivot to auto-- matically adjust the timing of the ignition.

4. In an ignition system, a distributer having a vertical rotary shaft, a. contact arm pivotally connected therewith and arranged to have a vertical movement under the action of centrifugal force, a fixed contact and an adjustable contact above the fixed contact, said contact arm being aranged to pass over the fixed contact when the rotary shaft is moved slowly, and over the adjustable contact when said shaft moves at a higher rate of rotation.

5. In an ignition system, a distributer having a vertical rotary shaft, a contact arm pivotally connected therewith, a fixed set of contacts, and an adjustable set of contacts above the fixed contacts and connected in parallel therewith.

6. In an ignition system, a distributer having a vertical rotary arm pivotally connected therewith, a twopart cup-shaped housing having its inner surfaces corresponding with the radius of the contact arm, the lower part of said housing being stationary, and the upper part rotarily adjustable relative to said lower part, a contact set in the lower part of the housing, and a similar contact set in the upper part of the housing.

7. In an ignition system, a distributer having a vertical rotary shaft, a contact arm pivotally connected therewith, a twopart cupshaped housing having its inner surfaces corresponding with the radius of the contact arm, the lower part of said housing being stationary and the upper part rotarily adjustable relative to said lower part, a contact set in thelower part of the housing, a similar contact set in the upper part of the housing, and a sliding connection between said contacts.

8. In an ignition system, a distributer having a vertical rotary shaft, a contact arm pivotally connected therewith, ,a two-part cup-shaped-housing having itsi inner surfaces corresponding with the radius of the contact arm, the lower part of said housing being stationary and the upper part rotarily adjustable relative to said lower part, a series of contacts set in the lower part of the housing, a similar series of contacts set in the upper pa t of the housing, and sliding contacts connecting said two series of contacts together in parallel.

9. In an ignition system, a distributer having a vertical rotary shaft, a contact arm pivotally connected therewith, a two-part cup-shaped housing having its inner surshaft, a contact rollers being arranged faces corresponding with the radius of the contact arm, the lower part of said housing being stationary and the upper part rotarily adjustable relative to said lower part, a series of contacts set in the lower part of the housing, a similar series of contacts set in the upper part of the housing, sliding contacts connecting said two series of contacts together parallel, and a spring arranged to hold ,the t vo parts of the housing together at said sliding contacts.

10. In an ignition-system, a distributer having a vertical rotary shaft, a contact arm pivotally connected therewith and arranged to have a vertical movement under the action of centrifugal force, adjustable means for opposing said vertical movement, a spindle axially rotatable in said arm, a pair of rollers, a pivot therefor transverse to said spindle and offset from the axis thereof near the end of the spindle, a cupshaped housing, a contact therein, said contact being so arranged that the rollers will engage it in different angular positions as the arm moves about its pivot to automatically adjust the timing of the ignition.

11. In an ignition system, a distributer having a vertical rotary shaft, a contact arm ivotally connected therewith, a spindle axially rotatable in said arm, a pair of rollers a pivot therefor transverse to said spindle and offset from the axis thereof near the end of the spindle; a. two-part cup-shaped housing having its inner surfaces corresponding with the radius of the contact arm, the lower part of said housing being stationary and the upper part rotarily adjustable relative to said lower part, a contact set in the lower part of the housing, a similar contact set in the upper part of the housing, and a sliding connection between said contacts, said rollers being arranged to pass over the contacts in said housing.

12. In an ignition system, a distributer having a vertical rotary shaft, a contact arm pivotally connected therewith, a. spindle axially rotatable in said arm, a pair of rollers, a pivot therefor transverse to said spindle and offset from the axis thereof near the end of the spindle; a two-part cup-shaped housing having its inner surfaces corresponding with the radius of the contact arm, the lower part of said housing being stationary and the upper part rotarily adjustable relative to said lower part, a series of contacts set in the lower part of the housing, a similar series of contacts set in the upper part of the housing, sliding contacts connecting said two series of contacts together in parallel, and a spring arranged to hold the two parts of the housing together at said sliding contacts; said to pass over the series of contacts in the lower part of the housing when the shaft is rotating slowly,

and over the series of contacts in the upper part of the housing When said shaft moves at a higher'rate of rotation, and a spring arranged to press said rollers against the contacts.

13. In an ignition system, a distributer having a rotary contact arm, a pivoted connection therefor whereby said .arm has a movement transverse to its rotary movement under the action of centrifugal force, adjustable means for modifying the effect of the centrifugal force on said arm, and

contacts set one above the other over which the arm travels, said contacts being so arranged that the arm will strike them in different angular positions as it moves about its pivot.

In. testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presci'lce of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN TEN EYCK HILLHOUSE. \Vitnesses ERNEST W. MARsHAL, GERTRUDE NEUSER. 

